122 
LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
which flank the building on either side are military 
insignia,, and are always thus fixed near the dwellings 
of distinguished persons. The eaves of the roof proj ect 
several feet from the waif so as to give the effect rather 
of a graceful canopy than of a simple covering, and the 
straight line presented in front of the building, har- 
monizing as it does with the square forms of which 
the structure is generally composed, has a very strik- 
ing and agreeable effect. Just below the projection of 
the roof is a broad red streak upon each side of the 
edifice. This denotes that it is the abode of some 
sacred person, the rajah being both prince and priest. 
The red lines upon the flag bear the same signification. 
Timur, in his march towards the Chinese frontier, 
made such admirable arrangements in his commis- 
sariat, that the army was abundantly supplied. Al- 
though the cold was so intense that many men and 
horses perished on the road in spite of the precautions 
he had taken to guard against such casualties, he cross- 
ed the Jaxartes upon the ice, and on the twenty- 
seventh arrived at Otrar, three hundred miles from his 
capital towards the north. The river was so deeply 
frozen, that the troops were obliged to perforate up- 
wards of four feet to obtain water. The emperor halted 
his army at Otrar, where, in the somewhat affected 
phrase of Gibbon, “ he was expected by the angel of 
death.” He was attacked by fever, which being ac- 
celerated by the imprudent use of ice, he died in the 
seventieth year of his age, and the thirty-sixth of his 
reign. “ When he found death approaching,” says hi 
historian, Shureef-ood-Deen Ally, “ he sent for the em- 
presses and principal amyrs. He bid them not weep. 
